1
1
Descriptive Oceanography
1.1 Introduction
Before we discuss the chemistry of the oceans, it is useful to review some descriptive features of the oceans. Oceanography is the scientific study of the oceans and can be divided
into four major areas:
1. Physical oceanography: the study of the physics of the oceans and their interactions with the atmosphere
2. Biological oceanography: the study of the biology of the oceans
3. Geological oceanography: the study of the geology and geophysics of the oceans
4. Chemical oceanography: the study of the chemistry of the oceans
The basic goal of oceanography is to obtain a clear and systematic description of the
oceans. It is hoped that an increased knowledge of the oceans will lead to a better understanding of how they control the climate of the earth and how they can be used as a source
of food, chemicals, and energy.
The goal of the physical oceanographer is to obtain a systematic and quantitative description of ocean waters and their movements. The ocean currents circulate continuously with
small- scale variations from tides and waves generated by winds and earthquakes. This
physical study of the oceans has been examined by
1. The descriptive approach: Observations are made of specific features and reduced
to a single characterization of the general features.
2. The dynamic approach: The known laws of physics are applied to the oceans.
An attempt is made to solve the mathematical equations for the motion of a body
acted on by forces.
This chapter gives a brief review of descriptive physical oceanography of the oceans. It
is important to understand these descriptive features since the movement of ocean waters
affects the biogeochemical processes that occur in the oceans. Much of the material covered in the earlier editions of the book was taken from books by Pickard and Emery (1982),
Dietrich et al. (1980), and Tchernia (1980). Lynne Tally, George Pickard, and Wilmer Emery
and James Smith (2011) have written a sixth edition of the earlier Pickard and Emery (1982)
book. It is up to date and should be referred to for further details.
The field of physical oceanography has expanded in recent years due to a number of
large- scale research programs, including the following:
1
Descriptive Oceanography
1.1 Introduction
Before we discuss the chemistry of the oceans, it is useful to review some descriptive features of the oceans. Oceanography is the scientific study of the oceans and can be divided
into four major areas:
1. Physical oceanography: the study of the physics of the oceans and their interactions with the atmosphere
2. Biological oceanography: the study of the biology of the oceans
3. Geological oceanography: the study of the geology and geophysics of the oceans
4. Chemical oceanography: the study of the chemistry of the oceans
The basic goal of oceanography is to obtain a clear and systematic description of the
oceans. It is hoped that an increased knowledge of the oceans will lead to a better understanding of how they control the climate of the earth and how they can be used as a source
of food, chemicals, and energy.
The goal of the physical oceanographer is to obtain a systematic and quantitative description of ocean waters and their movements. The ocean currents circulate continuously with
small- scale variations from tides and waves generated by winds and earthquakes. This
physical study of the oceans has been examined by
1. The descriptive approach: Observations are made of specific features and reduced
to a single characterization of the general features.
2. The dynamic approach: The known laws of physics are applied to the oceans.
An attempt is made to solve the mathematical equations for the motion of a body
acted on by forces.
This chapter gives a brief review of descriptive physical oceanography of the oceans. It
is important to understand these descriptive features since the movement of ocean waters
affects the biogeochemical processes that occur in the oceans. Much of the material covered in the earlier editions of the book was taken from books by Pickard and Emery (1982),
Dietrich et al. (1980), and Tchernia (1980). Lynne Tally, George Pickard, and Wilmer Emery
and James Smith (2011) have written a sixth edition of the earlier Pickard and Emery (1982)
book. It is up to date and should be referred to for further details.
The field of physical oceanography has expanded in recent years due to a number of
large- scale research programs, including the following: